Twitter’s growth has been about amplification of opinions, influence and conversations. At times this has made it appear more like broadcasting and certainly it has made the conversation louder, shorter and less genteel. Yet in interacting with media and blogs I would argue that twitter is amplifying and sharing ideas that often start in long form in other media platforms. This is different from broadcasting although it does make the conversation less sophisticated in many cases. I would describe it as a broader conversation rather than a broadcast.

Indeed as twitter grows its ability to amplify grows too so amplifying the amplifier. Some bloggers who began as highly focused ‘Influentials’ talking to only niche groups have become stars and engaged in very broad conversations. They often start to post less frequently but when they do they reach bigger, much bigger numbers.

The post pointed out that now more people get news from the Internet than traditional newspapers. This too is a part of the amplification process with e-zines merging with communities and a more dialogue driven view of the news. The key dynamic here is the way twitter helps ideas and stories leapfrog between niche communities. Again this seems to be of the great strengths of twitter it takes news from niches and can make them part of a broad community.

As it grows this does not mean twitter is all about these broader conversations. Clearly there a niche areas such as middle aged cycling that have drawn together quite large but discrete groups who don’t make it as trending topics. But even these conversations have become broader. So back to the blindingly obvious not always being easy to adopt I quote one point in the Elise’s Review below:

If Your Blog Doesn’t Have A “Tweet This” Or “Like This” Button On It, It Means That You Are Not Cool.

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8 Responses to “Amplifying the Amplifier–or ‘my, haven’t you GROWN!?’”

Great post. I see Twitter is an unrivaled relayer of information and opinions (whether mainstream or niche); the 140 character limit provokes polarisation and thus response (I hate . . I love . . ). Great. But it does not replace in-depth discussion or reasoned argument which may require . . . 141 characters or more . . . . Not yet anyway . .

No doubt Twitter has dramatically changed the way content and conversations are disseminated across the web, but I’d also be interested in looking at the impact it has had on how other channels – Facebook, email, SMS, IM – are used to share content.

And does the very public nature of Twitter mean we are developing multiple social media personalities? Is our public Twitter persona different from that on Facebook?

Kirstyn I think you hit the nail on the head. I think the the behviour varies depending not just on the platform but on the topic of conversation and the community within which it is happening. The key to this is how influential the participant feels within these parameters and the community they are sharing thoughts.

But it does provide a platform for these further in-depth discussions and arguments to be linked to, with key bloggers seeing a greater readership (one suspects) as a result of engagement on Twitter in a number of cases.

It’s a great way to see what the world thinks of a particular issue; using Twitter merely to tweet just scratches the surface of its potential.

I love how Twitter encourages real-time public journalism. We all have opinions and Twitter has brought a new dynamic to the online conversation in the way that you don’t need to be a journalist or have a public title to have a valid opinion or be the first to report on a situation. I also love how Twitter has ‘bookmark’ functionality so you can always revisit a conversation, blog or article whenever you like. The shortness of the text gives people a taste of the argument, issue, or news etc., and provides the option to follow-up in more depth if you so wish, which goes back to Tom’s point. The sheer volume of Tweets also keeps us more aware of current situations compared to other online channels.